Tome Biosciences Launches, Acquires California Biotech

Watertown-based Tome Biosciences launched in mid-December 2023 with $213 million in Series A and B funding from investors and moved to acquire California biotech Replace Therapeutics just two weeks later. Tome promises “to usher in a new era of genomic medicines based on programmable genomic integration (PGI).” PGI enables the insertion of any DNA sequence, of any size, into any programmed genomic location. Replace’s ligase-mediated PGI (L-PGI) technology targets small segments, complementing Tome’s large DNA PGI technology, integrase-mediated PGI (I-PGI).

“The addition of L-PGI to our PGI toolset provides us with the flexibility to choose the right editing tool for the right indication, expanding the types of diseases that we have the potential to cure,” said Tome President and CEO Rahul Kakkar.

Under the terms of the acquisition, Tome will acquire Replace Therapeutics through a merger transaction of $65 million in up-front and near-term milestones and a total deal value of up to $185 million. As a result of the merger, Replace Therapeutics will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tome Biosciences. (Tome Biosciences Website, 12 December 2023 and 02 January, 2024)